ath. But it seemed a
hopeless attempt--so utterly helpless was the Sachem, and so unable to
retain his seat. Quick as thought Oriana unbound her long twisted
girdle of many colors; and, flinging it to Henrich, desired him to bind
the failing form of her father to his own. He did so: and the nurse
having mounted behind Oriana, again the now furious steeds started
forward. All these actions had taken less time to perform than they
have to relate; but yet the pursuing flames had gained much way, and
the flight became more desperate, and more hazardous. Again the
prostrate forms of horses and their riders met the eyes of Henrich and
Oriana; but in the thickness of the air, and the wild speed at which
they were compelled to pass, it was impossible to distinguish who were
the unhappy victims.

'Heaven be praised!' at length Henrich exclaimed--and they were the
first words he had uttered since the flight had been resumed--' Heaven
be praised! I see the rocks dimly through the clouds of smoke. Yet a
few moments, and we shall be safe. Already the grass around us is
shorter and thinner: we are leaving the savanna, and shall soon reach
the barren defile, where the flames will find no fuel'

The horses seemed to know that safety was near at hand, for they
bounded forward with fresh vigor, and quickly joined the group of
breathless fugitives, who, having reached the extremity of the prairie,
had paused to rest from their desperate exertions, and to look out for
those of their companions who were missing, but who they hoped would
soon overtake them.

Oriana snatched her now smiling boy from Mailah's arms, and embraced
him with a fervency and emotion that showed how little she had hoped to
see his face again. But her own happy and grateful feelings were
painfully interrupted by her friend's exclamation of agony--

'Where is my Lincoya?' she cried. 'Did he not follow with you? I saw
him close to me when I paused to take your child: and he is not here!
O, my Lincoya! my brave, my beautiful boy! Have you perished in the
flames, with none to help you?' And she broke forth into cries and
lamentations that wrung the heart of Oriana.

She could give her no tidings of the lost youth, for she knew not whose
fainting forms she had passed in the narrow shrouded path; and it was
utterly impossible now to go and seek him, for the flames had followed
hard upon their flight, and were still raging over the mass of dry
herbage, and consuming eve